Mike Myers at the SDLP convention

One of the guest speakers for the South Dakota Libertarian Party (SDLP) convention this year was Independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Myers. Myers is always an interesting person to speak with and listen to. This event was no different.

Myers opened saying he has a pancake platform. This basically means he has the best parts of all parties. Such an approach may do well with libertarians, because libertarian beliefs cross over with each side of the political spectrum on a variety of issues. I’ve said before that Myers is almost libertarian, and after seeing him in Sioux Falls I feel it would be more appropriate to call him truly independent. Myers himself said he really doesn’t like labels though. If he had to actually label himself it would be ‘populist’.

One of the more interesting portions of the Myers speech was when he talked about industrial hemp. During the whole campaign Myers has touted the benefits to the agricultural industry in South Dakota by allowing producers to grow industrial hemp. While talking about hemp Myers went to the back of the room and asked Independent US Senate candidate Larry Pressler if he supported industrial hemp. Pressler only said “I shall answer that question later”. It would have been great if Pressler had answered that…

Going back to his campaign, Myers mentioned three planks that are important to him: good education, good healthcare, and good government.

When talking about good education Myers mentioned his long tenure as a professor at a law school. He believes he might have helped create the current corrupt system while teaching there. Myers has spoken about this before. Myers has seen first hand the problem with higher education in this State.

In his talking about healthcare Myers promoted his healthcare co-op. He said the exchanges are one part of ACA that is actually kinda good. But he would go a step further and transform the exchanges into a co-op system that was truly consumer-based. Myers also talked about Iatrogenesis. Iatrogenesis is basically anything that goes wrong with a patient due to errors made on the part of a physician, or in this case a healthcare system. He contends that more people are hurt just by going into a clinic and saying “I don’t feel good”. Myers says the current system run by Avera and Sanford are not patient-centered, but centered around doing more procedures.

As to good government, Myers said he wants a Lt Governor that is a woman. He believes such balance is needed. He also said the Lt Governor should be someone who has been to Pierre. That would explain his choice of Lora Hubbel as a running-mate. She fits the bill on both counts. Personally I don’t see what the sex of a candidate has to do with anything, but Myers appears to think it is important.

Finally, Myers mentioned EB-5. He thinks Rounds should be held accountable for the money lost in the program. Myers also says a truly independent prosecutor is needed to investigate EB-5. Part of me thought he should also have included Daugaard in his remarks, that is his opponent after all.

Overall I thought Myers was an interesting speaker for the SDLP convention. There are some issues I think he really doesn’t have enough detail on, but it is a long way until November 4. He has plenty of time to fill in the blanks.